Rittenberg: BT Championship game is reasonable expectation for Kill in 4-5 yrs

[BleedGopher]

per ESPN's Q&A:

Aaron from Minneapolis writes: Gophers fans, by and large, are nothing short of in love with Jerry Kill right now, and understandably so. And yet, a significant raise, contract extension, and renewed university commitment to football facilities seems to have raised the bar for Kill and his staff, and I doubt everyone will remain happy if Minnesota just floats around .500 for the next five years. So, as a less biased observer, what do you think should be the new expectation for the Gophers over the next 3-5 years under Kill?

Adam Rittenberg: Good question, Aaron. I always go back to the Glen Mason situation. Minnesota decided that seasons with six to eight wins weren't good enough and parted ways. The program paid the price in the following years until Kill stabilized things. There needs to be a certain level of realism at Minnesota, as the Golden Gophers aren't going to win 10 games every year. But Minnesota also should expect breakthrough seasons every now and then, especially in the seemingly weaker West Division.

Getting to the Big Ten championship game is a reasonable expectation for Kill in the next 4-5 years. At some point, Minnesota must end its Big Ten title drought. But the general expectation should be bowl games every year and winning at least seven games in most years. Fans should always expect big things, but you run into trouble when you think you're something that you're not.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/97043/big-ten-friday-mailblog-179

Go Gophers!!

 

[fryguy22]

Totally fair expectations. When the BIG championship game season does happen, I am going to be excited / thrilled / nervous beyond belief

 

[die hard gopher]

I will expect a big ten championship in 2015, or not expect it but I would not be surprised in the least of we get there, actually It wouldn't even be unfathomable for me at least if we we went next year, there is no reason to expect that we won't be just as good if not better then Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin next year with all the guys coming back next year and our new recruits, after all a non biased media outlet predicted us to finish ahead of all 3 of them and third in the entire conference(before the Cuse loss) but still. I'm sure this idea will however get shot down by some of the more pessimistic or "realistic" posters we have here.

 

[ncgo4]

Consider where we were in Kill's second year and where we are now. Speed, size, athleticism and depth are all areas of vast improvement. To the point where today's team is not recognizable as descending from those previous squads.

Now we learn that Claeys refused to even start the interview process when called. This is a team that is just beginning it's rise and I for one don't necessarily buy into these "just don't fail to know your place" comments. There's no reason that our "place" cannot be where it was in the early 60's!

 

[Oregon Gopher]

I will expect a big ten championship in 2015, or not expect it but I would not be surprised in the least of we get there, actually It wouldn't even be unfathomable for me at least if we we went next year, there is no reason to expect that we won't be just as good if not better then Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin next year with all the guys coming back next year and our new recruits, after all a non biased media outlet predicted us to finish ahead of all 3 of them and third in the entire conference(before the Cuse loss) but still. I'm sure this idea will however get shot down by some of the more pessimistic or "realistic" posters we have here.

Battling Wren for the longest run on sentence of all time

 

[imthewalrus]

Battling Wren for the longest run on sentence of all time

Quit hijacking threads and get this thing back on track Oregon poster. Enough of your cheap-shot nonsense. And to other posters who would attempt to belittle Rittenberg's premise. Rittenberg presents a very realistic picture of the situation of my Golden Gopher Football Program, and virtually every other Big Ten Program with the exception of the Ohio State at THIS point in time. While wisky, Michigan, Nebraska have historically done better, at this point in time the best they can hope for is to win a Big Ten Title only once in a while and can probably be invited to bowl games every year. That is also realistic for my Golden Gopher Football Program at this point in time.

Any year that my Gophers fail to win an invitation to a bowl game will be a bad year for the Coaching Staff and Coach Kill. Gopher Fans can EXPECT a bowl game every year now that we have the stadium and Coach Kill and his Staff have received boosts in salary and are entering their fourth season on the job. EXPECT bowl invitations...but...we can NOT expect Big Ten Championships right now. It will take a "special" run in a season when everything "breaks just right" to have a shot at that. The ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, MSU, wisky, iowa, PSU and another conference team or two will do their best to make sure of that. Bash Rittenberg all you wish, but he is being realistic.

 

[Sparlimb]

I will expect a big ten championship in 2015, or not expect it but I would not be surprised in the least of we get there, actually It wouldn't even be unfathomable for me at least if we we went next year, there is no reason to expect that we won't be just as good if not better then Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin next year with all the guys coming back next year and our new recruits, after all a non biased media outlet predicted us to finish ahead of all 3 of them and third in the entire conference(before the Cuse loss) but still. I'm sure this idea will however get shot down by some of the more pessimistic or "realistic" posters we have here.

In my opinion, we're far too young at the skill positions on offense to realistically compete for a title next year. QB's and WR's just aren't there yet. 2 years, we have a shot. What we really need is some of our lower rated players (compared to the rest of B10) to turn into special players. I sure liked watching our defense this past year turn into a legitimate squad. Future appears bright.

 

[Dr.Don]

Battling Wren for the longest run on sentence of all time

Agree. I would like for GopherHole to start recognizing the SHORTEST run on sentence of all time. Neither one says anything, but they do talk.

Example:

No not. or wait!what?

 

[Dr.Don]

Quit hijacking threads and get this thing back on track Oregon poster. Enough of your cheap-shot nonsense. And to other posters who would attempt to belittle Rittenberg's premise. Rittenberg presents a very realistic picture of the situation of my Golden Gopher Football Program, and virtually every other Big Ten Program with the exception of the Ohio State at THIS point in time. While wisky, Michigan, Nebraska have historically done better, at this point in time the best they can hope for is to win a Big Ten Title only once in a while and can probably be invited to bowl games every year. That is also realistic for my Golden Gopher Football Program at this point in time.

Any year that my Gophers fail to win an invitation to a bowl game will be a bad year for the Coaching Staff and Coach Kill. Gopher Fans can EXPECT a bowl game every year now that we have the stadium and Coach Kill and his Staff have received boosts in salary and are entering their fourth season on the job. EXPECT bowl invitations...but...we can NOT expect Big Ten Championships right now. It will take a "special" run in a season when everything "breaks just right" to have a shot at that. The ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, MSU, wisky, iowa, PSU and another conference team or two will do their best to make sure of that. Bash Rittenberg all you wish, but he is being realistic.

wren, since when did you be declared sole owner of the Gophers? You do add a lot to discussions here on GH, but your sole ownership is total and pure b.s.

 

[stocker08]

If we had a good quarterback.....I could see a title run this year.

 

[Killjoy]

wren, since when did you be declared sole owner of the Gophers? You do add a lot to discussions here on GH, but your sole ownership is total and pure b.s.

+1 I guess wren thought he could take it after Jerry Kill said it wasn't his team.

 

[imthewalrus]

wren, since when did you be declared sole owner of the Gophers? You do add a lot to discussions here on GH, but your sole ownership is total and pure b.s.

NOTE: THIS IS ONLY FOR DON TO READ. NO ONE ELSE MAY READ THIS RESPONSE. DON ASKED ME WHY SO I HAVE TOLD HIM. iT IS TOO LONG FOR THE REST OF THE POSTERS ON GOPHER HOLE TO READ. THEY CAN ONLY READ THIS RESPONSE AT THEIR OWN RISK.

When I was six or seven years old, I started hearing my Dad talking about the Gophers. Then, I started listening to Gopher Games on the radio. I always read every newspaper article I could find about "my Gophers." Then, in 1959, my Dad took me to my first Gopher Football Game, live and in person. It was against Indiana and it was the ONLY Big Ten Game my Gophers won in 1959. The next year, was quite a season for my Gophers and I saw them lose to Washington in the Rose Bowl Game on tv. I only saw them on tv for that game and the Iowa game in 1960 But, I listened to every other game on the radio. The very next season, after the Ohio State voted to not accept the automatic Rose Bowl invitation, my Gophers were awarded the trip and this time my Gphers beat UCLA!

I was at every 1967 Home Game, the last year my Gophers tied for the Big Ten Championship. Then, in 1968, I had to scramble for news of MY Golden Gopher Football Team when I went into the Service. For four years, I didn't get to see, or hear a single Golden Gopher Football game. I only was able to learn the scores when they were available to me overseas.

My experience with Golden Gopher Football has always been MY experience and the Gopher Games I have experienced where ever I was living has formed MY bond and MY connection to this football team.

I'd be damned surprised if you didn't have your OWN experience with Golden Gopher Football and I am sure it was a very UNIQUE experience loving your favorite college football team. And, I am sure that through they years you have been happy, sad, up...down, frustrated at times and totally accepting at other times of the year to year plight...journey and experience with Golden Gopher Football. And, I would be willing to wager that your experience with Golden Gopher Football is NOT exactly the same as my experience or the experience of ANY other Golden Gopher Football Fan.

I am kind of curious as to why you find this concept so hard to imagine Don. Or, do you always think EXACTLY the same thing about your Gophers that everyone else thinks and says about their personal relationship with the Golden Gopher Football Program?

It is a state of having had a totally unique concept of what my FAVORITE team means to me...has meant to me and will always mean to me. Here is a clue, Don: It's a matter speech...and...it is also a matter of having lived an entire lifetime having Golden Gopher Football always being so incredibly important to ME.

My experience is MY experience Don. Can you comprehend that? I really do NOT agree with a lot of the opinions posters on this board have about their perceptions of Golden Gopher Football. The things they describe are NOT what I think, say, see or experience with MY Golden Gopher Football Program. Everyone else is certainly entitled to their opinions...just as I am entitled to MY opinion of MY Golden Gopher Football Program. So, what I say and express about MY Golden Gopher Football Program is exactly what I think, know and feel about MY Golden Gopher Football Program.

Now Don, are you happy? You wanted to know. I have told you. I'm sure that you and everyone else will lambast me because it is too long. BUT it was you who wanted to know. I believed you.

 

[Oregon Gopher]

Agree. I would like for GopherHole to start recognizing the SHORTEST run on sentence of all time. Neither one says anything, but they do talk.

Example:

No not. or wait!what?

Brilliant!!!

 

[Deleted_User]

In my opinion, we're far too young at the skill positions on offense to realistically compete for a title next year. QB's and WR's just aren't there yet. 2 years, we have a shot. What we really need is some of our lower rated players (compared to the rest of B10) to turn into special players. I sure liked watching our defense this past year turn into a legitimate squad. Future appears bright.

Have you ever looked at how young are Alabama, Florida, and Auburn? They look no different than the Gophers. Get off the young thing. We were young 2 years ago. We were young last year. Are you kidding that we are young in 2014! That is a retread too far!

 

[Deleted_User]

Off Topic:

Somebody had a agenda years ago to make a poster into a buffoon and did it so well that some others jumped on the bandwagon. Now, it seems to be an unending joke that is beyond its time. Just end it. Stop going after him. The joke is getting too stale to be fun now.

As this poster continues to brave GH, new facts about him emerge that show the guy isn't a Star Wars yielding middle aged guy living in his parents basement, which had to be fabricated from the beginning.

I haven't read anything controversial from the poster in question in so long that I wonder why the cyber attacks on his character persist. Is anybody really laughing at it anymore? I certainly am not.

As for Rittenberg, he has no clue why Mason was fired.

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

Quit hijacking threads and get this thing back on track Oregon poster. Enough of your cheap-shot nonsense. And to other posters who would attempt to belittle Rittenberg's premise. Rittenberg presents a very realistic picture of the situation of my Golden Gopher Football Program, and virtually every other Big Ten Program with the exception of the Ohio State at THIS point in time. While wisky, Michigan, Nebraska have historically done better, at this point in time the best they can hope for is to win a Big Ten Title only once in a while and can probably be invited to bowl games every year. That is also realistic for my Golden Gopher Football Program at this point in time.

Any year that my Gophers fail to win an invitation to a bowl game will be a bad year for the Coaching Staff and Coach Kill. Gopher Fans can EXPECT a bowl game every year now that we have the stadium and Coach Kill and his Staff have received boosts in salary and are entering their fourth season on the job. EXPECT bowl invitations...but...we can NOT expect Big Ten Championships right now. It will take a "special" run in a season when everything "breaks just right" to have a shot at that. The ohio State, Michigan, Nebraska, MSU, wisky, iowa, PSU and another conference team or two will do their best to make sure of that. Bash Rittenberg all you wish, but he is being realistic.

Remember when Tim Brewster was calling your house? One of the all-time great moments on GH.

 

[imthewalrus]

Some really poor impersonator called me a couple of times. Let's face it: GOPHER HOLE has had some real freaks...one even faked his own tragic traffic accident and had the board all convinced that he had been decapitated on some New Jersey Highway or some such b.s.

Who ever did it was really not believable in any way. It was just pretty damn sick. But, just in case you have any ideas, I don't list my phone number any longer. You always seemed like a kind of "funny" sort...

Oh, there have been some really unbelievable sick suckers around here...and everyone knows it.

Have a nice day in costa rica dude or dudette, which ever your case may be.

 

[JoeDirt]

NOTE: THIS IS ONLY FOR DON TO READ. NO ONE ELSE MAY READ THIS RESPONSE. DON ASKED ME WHY SO I HAVE TOLD HIM. iT IS TOO LONG FOR THE REST OF THE POSTERS ON GOPHER HOLE TO READ. THEY CAN ONLY READ THIS RESPONSE AT THEIR OWN RISK.

Then PM him. Cripse man.

 

[imthewalrus]

Oh for cripes sake joedirt: Don doesn't have a post to PM on...and, besides that, I told the holy gopher posters not to read
the post because it was just too long for their little attention spans. Cripes: they say that they never read anything I write any way.
Are they all lying?

 

[short ornery norwegian]

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST......

It all comes down to this question: What is a "reasonable" expectation for Gopher FB?

Some would say that the Mason-era level - 7 to 9 wins a season and a bowl game appearance - is the highest level that fans should reasonably expect.

Others would say the program is capable of reaching a higher ceiling - even tho that ceiling has only been reached on extremely rare occasions in the last 50 years.

to be perfectly honest, I really prefer the Gophers as lovable underdogs. If the Gophers ever got to an OSU-like level, where they were honestly expected to win every game, I don't know if I would enjoy the games as much.

Having said that, I would like to see the Gophs win a B1G title and make it to the Rose Bowl at least once more in my lifetime. I'm 58, so that gives me a few years to work with.

And finally - Wren - they are "OUR" Gophers - not "your" gophers.

 

[imthewalrus]

BACK TO THE ORIGINAL POST......

It all comes down to this question: What is a "reasonable" expectation for Gopher FB?

Some would say that the Mason-era level - 7 to 9 wins a season and a bowl game appearance - is the highest level that fans should reasonably expect.

Others would say the program is capable of reaching a higher ceiling - even tho that ceiling has only been reached on extremely rare occasions in the last 50 years.

to be perfectly honest, I really prefer the Gophers as lovable underdogs. If the Gophers ever got to an OSU-like level, where they were honestly expected to win every game, I don't know if I would enjoy the games as much.

Having said that, I would like to see the Gophs win a B1G title and make it to the Rose Bowl at least once more in my lifetime. I'm 58, so that gives me a few years to work with.

And finally - Wren - they are "OUR" Gophers - not "your" gophers.

short-order norsky/torsky: Mason had that ten win season...so his range surpassed that 7 to 9 range that you attempted to create.

At least that's the way it was for MY Golden Gopher Football Team. And yes, MY perception of the Golden Gopher Football Program is MY stinking perception. You just proved to me how inaccurate YOUR perception of your Gopher Football Team is. I will have NO part of your inaccurate perception of Golden Gopher Football. I just can't trust your version of things.

They are MY Golden Gophers. You have YOUR perception and you can provide ANY kind of description of your understanding of the history or the current events of Golden Gopher Football that you wish. But you can NEVER tell me that my Golden Gopher Football Team is not My Golden Gopher Team.

 

[Killjoy]

short-order norsky/torsky: Mason had that ten win season...so his range surpassed that 7 to 9 range that you attempted to create.

At least that's the way it was for MY Golden Gopher Football Team. And yes, MY perception of the Golden Gopher Football Program is MY stinking perception. You just proved to me how inaccurate YOUR perception of your Gopher Football Team is. I will have NO part of your inaccurate perception of Golden Gopher Football. I just can't trust your version of things.

They are MY Golden Gophers. You have YOUR perception and you can provide ANY kind of description of your understanding of the history or the current events of Golden Gopher Football that you wish. But you can NEVER tell me that my Golden Gopher Football Team is not My Golden Gopher Team.

short ornery norwegian - Nice try but wren is reverting back to his old patterns. I know you were at the Strib blog when wren teamed up with *********** and tried to control the conversation to talk about only their agenda. Now wren is playing games again and posting crap here. It it time for the monitors to start looking at banning him again before he drives people away from here like he did before.

 

[gopherfannnn]

Nine wins seems very possible to me. It'll be fun to see what happens.
And I dream of the day when everybody can say "the Gophers are mine."

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

Some really poor impersonator called me a couple of times. Let's face it: GOPHER HOLE has had some real freaks...one even faked his own tragic traffic accident and had the board all convinced that he had been decapitated on some New Jersey Highway or some such b.s.

Who ever did it was really not believable in any way. It was just pretty damn sick. But, just in case you have any ideas, I don't list my phone number any longer. You always seemed like a kind of "funny" sort...

Oh, there have been some really unbelievable sick suckers around here...and everyone knows it.

Have a nice day in costa rica dude or dudette, which ever your case may be.

Remember when Kelly Leeks posted that pic of you and your wife from the local newspaper here? You were soooo pissed. lol. You've been a constant source of entertainment on GH.

 

[EG#9]

per ESPN's Q&A:

Aaron from Minneapolis writes: Gophers fans, by and large, are nothing short of in love with Jerry Kill right now, and understandably so. And yet, a significant raise, contract extension, and renewed university commitment to football facilities seems to have raised the bar for Kill and his staff, and I doubt everyone will remain happy if Minnesota just floats around .500 for the next five years. So, as a less biased observer, what do you think should be the new expectation for the Gophers over the next 3-5 years under Kill?

Adam Rittenberg: Good question, Aaron. I always go back to the Glen Mason situation. Minnesota decided that seasons with six to eight wins weren't good enough and parted ways. The program paid the price in the following years until Kill stabilized things. There needs to be a certain level of realism at Minnesota, as the Golden Gophers aren't going to win 10 games every year. But Minnesota also should expect breakthrough seasons every now and then, especially in the seemingly weaker West Division.

Getting to the Big Ten championship game is a reasonable expectation for Kill in the next 4-5 years. At some point, Minnesota must end its Big Ten title drought. But the general expectation should be bowl games every year and winning at least seven games in most years. Fans should always expect big things, but you run into trouble when you think you're something that you're not.

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/97043/big-ten-friday-mailblog-179

Go Gophers!!

Is this going to just keep being repeated over and over until everyone believes it's true? Mason was very fortunate to get to 6 wins in his final season with Minnesota with a 3 year senior starter at QB. Recruiting had been brutal for 3 classes and the best players on the team were graduating. Then we had Jones and company all get kicked out of school in the Spring. Brewster comes in and produces classic Glen Mason seasons in years 2 and 3 and then gets fired in year 4. No issue with firing Brewster, but Minnesota didn't "pay a price" for hiring him and he wasn't a "disaster" IF you are going to argue that Glen Mason did a good job. It continues to amaze me how this narrative keeps getting repeated like we all were not around to see that Brewster was capable of getting to the Poulan WeedEater Bowl just like Mason was. Anyone who followed the football program even remotely closely at the time of Glen Mason's dismissal saw that the arrow was pointing straight down in terms of where the program was headed (and that was before Dom Jones, Alex Daniels and co. got booted out of school).

As for the rest of the answer about Minnesota fans needing to be realistic? Same thing was said about Wisconsin and Iowa and probably Michigan State. Now all three of those programs are allowed to have expectations beyond competing every once in awhile. So did Wisconsin and Iowa run in to trouble for thinking they were something that they're not?

 

[Curseislifted33]

My personal expectation for the program is to eventually be on the same level as Iowa and Wisco on a regular basis because there is no reason we can't and shouldn't be...

 

[Governor Sibley]

I don't think we'll play in the championship any time soon. Would love to be wrong about that.

We were a dumb backwards pass away from being 3-5 in the conference last year.

 

[Rostovgold]

I don't think we'll play in the championship any time soon. Would love to be wrong about that.

We were a dumb backwards pass away from being 3-5 in the conference last year.

Wrong, they were also a pass or two from being 10-2. I don't see a Big Ten title game until 2015/16 but I do see it trending that way...JMHO

 

[Tim Riggins]

Wrong, they were also a pass or two from being 10-2. I don't see a Big Ten title game until 2015/16 but I do see it trending that way...JMHO

Don't you know we can only play the what if game if it results in a negative outcome?!

 

[RodentRampage]

The Gophers were ready for the play and took advantage of it. Even if the pass hadn't been dropped, the play wouldn't have gone anywhere, and Indiana would have had to settle for an attempt at a game-tying field goal. We can't assume the Gophers would have lost in overtime.